Animals sign up for 'Pig Brother'

A group of zoology experts will tomorrow begin examining the behaviour of inhabitants of a specially constructed house somewhere in the British countryside. And we're not talking about Big Brother.

The Food and Animal Initiative (FAI), a group of scientists from Oxford Univer- sity, will conduct the world's first study into what farm animals look for in their environment. Its chief, Professor Paul Harvey, believes monitoring the animals' thinking will allow his team to devise a workable model farm and a new set of agricultural best-practice guidelines.

But just how much say will the animals have? Will we see pampered pigs in blankets and ducks in designer swimming pools? One thing is clear: the project's pigs will not live in the luxury enjoyed by Napoleon and Snowball in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Satellites will track sheep on the farm – the Wytham Estate, Oxfordshire – to monitor their "wild feeding habits". It is hoped the "natural environment" will lower stress levels.